When Manabu Tsukagoshi, a Tokyo-based consultant, had his second child, he took a month of paternity leave so that his wife could go back to work. While Tsukagoshi is among a tiny majority in Japan, Prime Minister Abe wants men to play a larger role in bringing up their kids.

“The most popular debate in China today,” writes columnist Kelly Yang, “is whether you're ‘dad enough’.” But what turned a reality TV show featuring cute kids and their hapless caretakers into such a hot topic in the world’s most populous country?

In a world of blurring gender roles, where women are empowered and men are emasculated, a playful definition of 'what it means to be a man' is emerging, whereby men have the freedom to build their own definition from a range of discourses.

Changing gender roles, new values and an increasingly fluid society mean the nuclear family is starting to feel like a throwback. Is Modamily – a new network that is spearheading the co-parenting trend – a sign of things to come?